The Best Audiophile Gear (2025): Headphones, Speakers, Amps, DACs Leave a comment
I am a reasonably lazy listener, which is why I like fashionable streaming amps. These amps have controls for Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, and different streaming providers constructed instantly into easy-to-use interfaces. Streaming amps have gotten actually nice over the previous few years. It was that something with an web connection sounded horrible, however that is not the case with the most recent fashions. My high-end favorites proper now are the Cambridge Audio Evo 150 ($2,999) and the Naim Uniti Atom ($3,799), which each characteristic beautiful colour shows and among the finest constancy (and most superb knobs) I’ve ever skilled. Each work with each main streaming service possible, and you may connect with them over Bluetooth.
A great step-down choice is Yamaha’s R-N1000A ($1,800) stereo community receiver. It is loaded with high-end parts like a SABRE ES9090Q DAC for high-resolution digital audio and sufficient A/B amplification for practically any pair of audio system in your arsenal. Simply as essential, it supplies rock-steady efficiency and a great deal of connection choices, from tons of streaming providers and web radio stations to a turntable enter and HDMI ARC for connecting to your TV. Its retro design, which skips a colour display for a slim digital show set beneath tactile knobs, stokes nostalgia whereas delivering glorious sound high quality.
For one thing additional stripped down that retains the sound, Outlaw Audio’s RR2160 Mk II ($999) is an intriguing choice. The Mk II builds on the speeding readability and punch for which the unique was beloved with updates like hi-res Wi-Fi streaming and Ethernet. This isn’t the choose if you would like all the fashionable trappings—there’s no HDMI ARC port for simplified TV connection, and even streaming stalwarts like Bluetooth and AirPlay are omitted. As an alternative, this economical energy plant rewards your funding with fabulous constancy and loads of methods to attach, together with a stable phono enter for each Transferring Magnet and Transferring Coil cartridges. You’ll realize it when you hear it, making this an excellent basis for a streamlined system that places the sound entrance and heart.
If you do not have that sort of cash, I extremely advocate trying out the Canadian model NAD. Its amps, just like the NAD C 316 V2 ($399) aren’t the flashiest, however they sound superb for the cash. Just like the choices above, the C 316 even comes with a phono channel on board so you may hook up a document participant—a pleasant contact, seeing how NAD’s mannequin does not have built-in streaming. If you wish to stream, yow will discover the correct dongle to attach your telephone to it.
Vinyl is again! And turntables are extra enjoyable—and better-sounding—than ever. In the event you’re in search of a starter deck with audiophile-grade sound high quality, I might take a look at choices just like the Pro-Ject T1 ($399) or Debut Carbon Evo ($599). On the upper finish, we just like the Rega Planar 2 ($775), which has a bit extra open and dynamic sound, and U-Turn’s Orbit Theory ($999), which sounds unbelievable due to extras like a custom-made magnesium tonearm, the half that units the needle to the groove.
If in case you have a classic stereo, it probably has a phono preamp in-built, that means you may plug a turntable instantly and get straight to listening. However when you have a contemporary stereo, you could want to purchase a devoted phono preamp to play your data via your headphones or audio system. Examine each your turntable and your stereo, as a result of setups differ, and a few turntables include phono amps inside them that you could activate by flipping a swap. Nonetheless, whereas some built-in choices just like the one contained in the Orbit Concept above carry out nicely, others might not sound pretty much as good as you want.
